I used to love Carefree gum, maybe because when I was growing up it was always in my mom’s purse, but every now and then I’d get a pack and chomp through it in a few hours.  It’s been a while since I had it and when I looked for a pack for this comparison against Extra, I was surprised I couldn’t find it anywhere.  I did some research and was shocked to find out Carefree was discontinued about 2 years ago.  I was so bummed.  But all was not lost! I’m lucky enough to have what I call a “living museum” one town over from me.  Need a pack of discontinued gum from at least 2 years ago?  No problem, head over to Village Stationary in Holliston, MA.  Needless to say I didn’t find anyone who wanted to chew this so this evaluation was done solo. 

Carefree:
Unsurprisingly, this was kind of hard but still a little bendable.  I also would like to note that it did smell like bubble gum and I think the initial stiffness was the only result of being so old.  The flavor was what I remembered, I can’t describe it but there is something that makes it uniquely “carefree”.  Unfortunately the flavor seemed to only last a few seconds.  There wasn’t a lot of “bounce” and the end result was a kind of dense nugget with no flavor- all in about 30 seconds.

Extra:
This (also unsurprisingly) was soft and bendable.  The initial bounce was way better and the bubble gum flavor is stronger. It’s almost overwhelming at first, but this lasted a minute before going the way of Carefree and losing most of it’s flavor and bounce. Although with some work, I could blow a bubble with this.

Wrap up:
I admit this may not have been a fair evaluation with Carefree’s age as a factor but I had to do it while I cold still get a pack.  I like the flavor of Carefree better although it won’t last long enough to walk to the mailbox and back.  BUT,  I like the texture of Extra, although I have to keep in mind this was much fresher and the flavor was pretty decent.  I will give it “extra” points for being able to blow a bubble with it. 

I also wanted to share a Carefree product I found at Village that I never knew existed called Stickfree.
I’m probably not going to chew this but just thought I’d share it since I’ve never seen it before and probably never will again.

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I know, gum isn’t really a “snack” but it is something I consider a snack substitute and according to childhood folklore, it can end up being an 8 year snack if you swallow it.  Gum plays such a big part of my life I just felt I had to include it.  Although, I haven’t had this particular gum in many years, I felt it was worthy of a taste test.
In a perfect world, Chewels and Tidal Wave would still be around and I could include them in this comparison but these are the only two liquid-center gums currently available.

First up, Bubblicious:
This gum is very sweet, the bubble gum flavor is apparent but is kind of masked by the overwhelming sweeteness.  The liquid center has a little thickness so it doesn’t just spill out (although normally it shouldn’t matter because it’s in a mouth anyway).  The texture is nice and soft and is elastic enough to blow some  bubbles, not the best, but okay.

Freshen Up:
I had high hopes for this classic but even though the initial flavor was decent, it only lasts for what seems like only a few seconds.  The liquid center is much more gooey and kind of gross.  The chew on this is pretty bad, there’s is no elasticity so in under a minute I found myself chewing on a hard, tasteless wad of something that resembled gum.

Wrap up:
Bubblicious wins this round but I think more because Freshen Up is so bad.  I did happen to randomly find a third party sold only as individual pieces but I it looks like it’s a Bubblicious product:

But I guess why would they make two liquid-center gums?  I did a little looking online but didn’t really find anything on Bubbaloo so I can’t tell if this is a copy-cat or sister product.  I tried it and it looks and tasted like the Bubblicious except that it had better bubble blowing abilities.

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